The University of Colorado Police Department has launched a new website that will allow victims of crimes like bike theft to report their cases online in a move that department officials hope will free up more time for their officers to be on patrol.

The new site, which went live a week ago, allows people on campus to report instances of theft, property damage, graffiti or traffic concerns online instead of requiring officers to respond in person to log such complaints.

"It will free up our officers to spend more time on the street, more time on patrols preventing bike thefts and solving other problems," said CU police spokesman Ryan Huff.

Before the online system was launched, Huff said victims of crimes such as bike thefts had to call the police dispatch line and request an officer. The officer would then have to meet with the victim and write a report. The entire process takes about 40 minutes, and with 162 bike thefts and 35 computer hardware thefts in 2012, that's about 11 hours a month of time officers would have saved had the system been in place.

Huff said with the new online system, victims can report crimes and even upload pictures or other evidence to be viewed by officers. The victims will receive copies of their reports and also will be given contact information so they can get updates on their case.

"It receives the exact same investigative resources it would get if a police officer took the report," Huff said.

Victims still will be able to request an officer to take a report in person, but Huff said department officials hope people will take advantage of the online system, especially with a large number of the department's cases being thefts and most of the campus population doing everything online already.

"We will be directing people to this site, but if a person is not comfortable with it or wants an officer to respond, that is still an option," Huff said. "But especially for us, given how tech savvy and how online our students, faculty and staff are, this will be an easier way to tell us about certain crimes... It frankly saves the victim of the crime time and saves the officers time."

Huff added that with a more convenient system, victims of more minor thefts that may have previously not wanted to go through the process of talking with an officer will be more willing to file an online report.

"Sometimes people don't call police for what they perceive to be a minor crime," Huff said. "We may see more reporting of theft than we have before, and the act of reporting these more minor crimes is a good thing for everyone. It will help us better track where crimes are happening that we had not previously identified because people were not reporting them."

But Huff stressed that the online system is not meant for crimes that are underway, and that serious crimes should still be called in to dispatchers.

"This is not for crimes in progress," Huff said. "This is never to be used for someone who feels their physical safety is threatened or was the victim of a physical attack."

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